T/N: Oh, new Path of Exile league is here! >_>
As OBT drew near, everyone’s nerves were getting raw. The stress piled up, and even the smallest issues set people on edge.
Taeyeon tried not to show any irritability. He wasn’t the only one struggling—everyone on duty was.
Long ago, after thorough discussions with President Kim Myeong-uk, Taeyeon had pledged that if the launch succeeded, the incentives would be distributed as fairly as possible, and he’d said it would have a positive effect on next year’s salary negotiations too.
So everyone was working late nights without complaint.
They surely wanted to go out and enjoy themselves, to have time of their own, but they were giving that up to throw themselves into the work.
This was merely the minimum reward for that effort.
Which is why, if they were going to laugh together at the very end, they had to quietly endure the hard parts. And the person who needed to set that tone was the project manager—himself.
Taeyeon dumped out the armful of things he’d bought at the convenience store and called out,
“You’ve all worked so hard. I brought ice cream. Let’s eat and keep going!”
“Waaah!”
The staff came running in a crowd.
Seeing how happy they were with a single ice cream in their hands, responsibility surged in him along with a vow to make this game succeed, no matter what.
Please, let there be a good result…
If they wanted to push sales even a little higher, he had to keep moving without rest.
Watching the staff take a brief breather, Taeyeon grabbed another bag and headed to a different department.
Late at night, the people stoking their passion with time as fuel weren’t just the dev team.
Clocking out at eleven, Taeyeon headed straight for Yuna’s place. Waiting for her in a dark alley, he soon saw Kim Yuna appear—fully disguised in leggings, a zip-up hoodie, cap, and mask. After one more glance around, he stepped in and pulled her into a hug.
“Did you have a good day?”
“Mm-hmm.”
After savoring her warmth and her scent to his heart’s content, he linked arms with her and they began a late-night walk.
This was how Taeyeon and Yuna had been dating lately.
At a nearby park, they took a seat on a bench under a streetlamp, and he took something from a shopping bag and handed it to her.
Accepting the wrapped box, Yuna asked with a puzzled look,
“What’s this?”
“It’s nothing big. I saw one on a finance team staffer’s desk and thought it was pretty, so I bought it.”
With a small expectation, Yuna undid the wrapping.
It was a pretty snow globe that lit up.
“It’s beautiful!”
It was a small present, but Yuna was delighted. Pleased by her reaction, Taeyeon took out another gift.
“I picked this up while I was out getting the present. I thought it would suit you.”
It was a new lipstick from a famous brand.
“It just launched recently, and when I looked it up online, they said it’s so popular women carry it these days like an essential.”
Yuna had considerable wealth, but she had little interest in consumption as such. She just exercised, read, occasionally went to shoots—that was her whole pattern of life.
She didn’t see many people either.
Lately it was either Han Seol-ah or Taeyeon, and that was it. So she loved these small gifts Taeyeon gave her, and he, in turn, loved how she reacted to them.
They talked endlessly not only by text and phone but whenever they met, and somehow the topics never ran dry and never got old.
Bit by bit, they found and shared new hobbies together—that, too, was the result of Taeyeon’s effort. After hearing Professor Kim Hyowon’s words, Taeyeon quietly wished Yuna would find another meaning or purpose in life beyond gymnastics.
After about an hour of pleasant time, he suppressed his reluctance and escorted her back to the front of her building.
Taeyeon spoke his honest feelings.
“I feel it every time—sending you back home like this always leaves me really reluctant. These days I keep wanting to see you, all the time.”
Still in his arms, Yuna looked up at his face. Then, lifting herself onto her toes, she kissed him on the lips and said,
“Same for me.”
Taeyeon looked surprised for a second, then smiled softly and tightened his arms around her just a little.
Loosening the hug, he said,
“Sleep well.”
“Call me when you get home.”
On his way back alone, Taeyeon realized all the day’s stress had quietly melted away, and he smiled.
It’s honestly like magic.
To Taeyeon, Yuna was nothing short of magic.
One week before Monster Eater Online’s OBT.
Not just Nexple Plus, the entire HQ staff began logging into the client from time to time to play the game.
Of course it wasn’t just casual play.
It was cooperative testing. Another important schedule item being carried out at Taeyeon’s request and under his lead.
He monitored the testing constantly, checked trends, got issues reported, and processed the work. With the Nexple staff numbering in the thousands, test chatter constantly surfaced on game community sites or industry gossip boards.
Taeyeon regarded this as another kind of publicity—and as user reactions—and kept a close eye on it.
— Server stability is great and the localization is well done. You can tell Nexple Plus really put in the work.
— What I like most is the scenario translation. No stray typos or broken sentences, and every now and then there’s even a “transcendent” line.
— Sure, it’s a game already in service elsewhere, but how can there be so few issues? The funny part is the overseas servers are now following the Korean test server’s patch notes. Looks like they’re sharing patch files and working together in lockstep.
— They’re pushing optimization updates steadily—like once a day. The Crying Soft team and the Plus team are collaborating together.
— I finally like something. I’m a Nexple employee myself, and this is the first time I’ve seen service operations done properly.
There were especially a ton of related posts on the “Game” board of the Reed Forest app. Posts with CBT impressions of Monster Eater Online and posts looking forward to OBT were going up constantly.
Taeyeon shared these reactions with Takizawa Satoshi whenever he could. He knew the person most curious about the local reception would be the main producer and director.
It wasn’t much, but it was the kind of thing that, once you tried to do it, turned out to be a real hassle; because Taeyeon kept letting him know without a hint of annoyance, Takizawa Satoshi was thrilled.
A week later, at last, the open beta test began.
“Good lord…”
The programmers watching the concurrent user stats were speechless.
No less than two hundred thousand users had logged in.
Even more surprising was that Taeyeon had anticipated it and taken ample measures.
He rallied Nexple’s resources to the maximum so that up to three hundred thousand concurrent users could hop in—without queues—and enjoy the game comfortably.
Monster Eater Online’s strength is its raid content; providing a bug-free, smooth play environment is the lifeblood of the game.
If you want to secure enough paying users at launch, you have to nail it during OBT.
That’s why beginnings matter.
This is my first official career milestone at Nexple. I will make it a success.
Taeyeon didn’t let the tension slacken.
On day two, peak CCU hit 220,000.
The user count wasn’t dropping—it was steadily rising.
— There were no queues, no server crashes, no emergency maintenance. There is some lag, but nothing that really bothers you.
— What is this? This isn’t the Nexple I know!
— It’s way better than the overseas servers.
— They’re following our patches now. It’s kind of funny, but it just proves we’re doing a good job. Let’s keep it up!
The planned OBT period was one month.
If this mood held, they could go straight into official service without a break.
President Kim Myeong-uk moved fast.
Via a press conference he announced the launch promotion plan, and he set up an internet broadcast to commemorate OBT and launch featuring Takizawa Satoshi and the local ops team together. He showed the grit to blitz through PR and outside appearances like a whirlwind.
The result…
[Global MMORPG Monster Eater Online Lands in Korea—CCU Breaks 350,000!]
[Korea Sets New OBT Concurrent User Record!]
[Record-Breaking in Progress—World-Class IP Shows Its Power!]
It was astonishing enough to draw the attention not just of the Korean game industry, but of numerous media outlets and the broader public.
But Taeyeon and the dev team had no time to raise a giddy toast.
More concurrent users meant that much more work to do.
On top of that, all kinds of claims were pouring in.
With interest and expectations far exceeding forecasts, the current ops team alone couldn’t handle it.
In response, Taeyeon brought in veteran operators from the Live Division to handle phone and email.
He’d secured their cooperation from the division heads even before OBT—that preparation paid off.
Planners, programmers, and artists focused on answering inquiries passed along from the ops team.
OBT, day 31.
At last, all testing wrapped up.
We can’t start right away. We need at least a few days’ rest.
The official period was 31 days, but if you counted the pre-work, the dev and ops teams had devoted themselves to the job by pulling all-nighters for a full two months.
More than anything, it was time for rest.
That went for Taeyeon himself, too.
“Starting today through next week—do nothing. Rest!”
“Uoooooh!”
“Finally, a break!”
“If we’d gone any further, I swear I would’ve died of overwork.”
With sallow, worn faces, the Nexple Plus staff cheered.
Taeyeon’s break amounted to just one day.
It couldn’t be helped.
The Nexple Plus staff had only Monster Eater Online to manage, but Taeyeon had three titles—and other duties besides.
Still, at least I get one day to really relax.
Taeyeon decided to spend the entire day with Yuna.
From early morning, his hands were busy preparing breakfast at home.
Spicy kimchi stew, steamed eggs, grilled salted mackerel, and more.
He poured in every bit of cooking skill he’d honed over more than ten years of living alone.
Just as he finished cooking and was airing out the place—
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
She’s here!
Taeyeon hurried to the door and opened it.
Skinny jeans and a white T-shirt,
her long hair neatly pinned up to bare her slender neckline—Yuna was beaming.
“I just finished breakfast. Come on in.”
It was her first visit.
Having spent her life in a sport where body maintenance is everything, Yuna was used to eating light.
But this time, she seemed determined to break that rule. After they ate, Taeyeon brought tea, the kind she often drank, instead of coffee, and said,
“I’m glad you ate well, but wasn’t it too much? You overdid it, right?”
“…”
Her face looked a quite uncomfortable.
She had, in fact, overdone it.
Watching her sip the cool tea gingerly, Taeyeon asked with a smile,
“Should I just get you a soda?”
She shook her head.
“What, because of the burping? I don’t mind.”
“I do.”
“I should’ve cooked less. I’ll remember that for next time.”
After tea, they took a light walk around the apartment complex. It was a weekday morning, so there weren’t many people about; they had a relaxed time.
For lunch they made do with a slice of cheesecake and a few macarons he’d prepared in advance at home. Then they chatted about little things and read together.
As he settled in, Taeyeon noticed her eyelids blinking sleepily and said,
“If you’re drowsy, close your eyes for a bit.”
When Yuna hesitated and then tried to fold herself over right there, Taeyeon quickly stopped her.
“Don’t do that—just sleep in my bed. I keep it clean and wash the linens often, so it won’t smell unpleasant. Ah, and change clothes too. You’ll be uncomfortable like that.”
And as if he’d been waiting for the cue, he brought out a simple tracksuit set. Yuna’s eyes brightened.
“This is the brand I endorse. You got it for me?”
“We’re spending the whole day here together, right? So I prepped a few things yesterday. Toiletries and the cosmetics you use a lot—I stocked those too.”
“Your preparation is thorough.”
“You have to be, to do a producer’s job. Go change and come on out.”
A moment later, seeing her in the new outfit, Taeyeon murmured in admiration,
“Amazing. I figured the ad photo must’ve had some retouching, but…”
Embarrassed, she slipped straight into the bathroom. Smiling, Taeyeon put on some soft music and kept reading.
The leisurely time drifted on.
They didn’t do anything special, and they spent most of the time at home, but he experienced what true “rest” meant.
Early the next morning, Taeyeon drove Yuna back to her place and then headed in to the office.
He felt like he was walking on air.
Everything felt fresh and perfect.
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